THE MUSIC

Jaimie Wilson is primarily known for his instagram page (@tboy61915) for documenting his FEMALE to MALE transition. with transitioning comes vocal changes that Jaimie has learned to not just accept, but embrace with his music. Music was never a stranger to Jaimie’s life. His mother, Cheryl Wilson, is well known locally for her musical talents in singing and songwriting. At an early age Jaimie found himself alongside his mother singing, sharing the musical passion that seems to run in the family. He started playing piano at the age of four, and progressing further with music by picking up the flute in early middle school. However, at the time, music was not Jaimie’s main focus. Jaimie was raised on a family owned farm and this environment encouraged his participation in the horse showing community. By the age of fifteen Jaimie had already received copious amounts of awards and accolades. It was at this age that his mother decided to hand down a guitar that had gone untouched for years. Unbeknownst to Cheryl, she had opened up a whole new world for Jaimie. In merely a couple of days, Jaimie had familiarized himself with every string and every fret of the guitar. He began to turn single notes into chords, which gave him the ability to accompany his vocals. Because he is self-taught on guitar, Jaimie created his own direction with his music, this only fed his creativity that would soon lead to his composition of original work. Jaimie’s roots of country and gospel music are found in his early written melodies, but as time went on Jaimie began to acquire a music taste for each and every genre, thus resulting in a diverse music repertory that is relatable and enjoyed by many. Because music is not just a pastime, but instead a manner of life for Jaimie, his heart and soul for music is well articulated in every song he sings. Real life experiences and emotions help to shape Jaimie’s songs. He strongly credits his well-rounded family and lifestyle as a fundamental attribution to his unique way of song structure and writing, both melodically and lyrically. It is clear to see all of the qualities and talents he possesses. His most valuable quality is not one that can be seen, but rather heard as he expresses his feelings through song. Jaimie lives and breathes music. It’s his escape. His dream. His life.

THE TRANSITION

Jaimie knew from an early age that he was “different”. Coming from a small town and raised in a religious household, he was somewhat sheltered to diversity. He would often wait until his parents we’re not around to be able to tuck is long flowing hair into a baseball cap and sneak on some of his brothers clothing. To the world, Jaimie was a beautiful young woman but to Jaimie, his true self was trapped somewhere inside that girl. One day Jaimie had stumbled across a video entitled “Break Free” starring Ruby Rose. The video showed a very feminine girl washing away all of her make up and cutting off her hair in order to present masculine. Something inside Jaimie clicked. He was not alone in these feelings. After 19 long years of living a lie, Jaimie decided it was time to make himself happy despite the negative backlash he was certain he would receive. The day he cut his hair changed everything. Good and bad. He gave no warning to his parents who were waiting for him when he arrived back home. Unfortunately, he was right about how his parents would react. Because of their disapproval, ridicule, and harassment, it made living in the household unbearable and unsafe for Jaimie. While still in high school. He was forced to move out and fend for himself. The majority of Jaimie’s family followed suit with the disapproval and will not respect Jaimie’s choice to transition from female to male. Being away from his family gave him the opportunity to learn about diversity and after much research he decided to take medical steps to becoming male. Jaimie started his Instagram page to document his journey and be able to look back and track his progress. He quickly gained much need support from people all over the world. Social media became a huge platform for Jaimie to connect with other people going through similar situations and receive the support he was no longer getting from his family. Since he started his transition in June of 2015, he has amassed over 500,000 followers that encourage his journey. Jaimie was a performing musician prior to his transition. Voice changes are a common side effect of taking hormones when medically transitioning and Jaimie completely lost his singing voice 3 months after the start of testosterone. He never gave up his dream and with much resilience and practice Jaimie re-trained his voice and adapted to his lower tone. He is currently a touring musician, public speaker, and advocate for the transgender and LGBT communities.